Really
fun 1970 card to add to the “collection” today, a card for former
pitcher turned outfielder Bobby Darwin, who began his MLB career with
the Los Angeles Dodgers as a young arm as a teenager:
It’s easy to forget that the man who’d eventually go on to the Minnesota
Twins and slug 65 homers over three seasons between 1972-1974 started
out as a pitcher with the pitching rich Dodgers in the 1960’s.
In 1969, after a seven year hiatus from his MLB debut in 1962, Darwin
made it back to a Big League mound and appeared in six games, not
factoring in a decision while posting an ERA of 9.82 in 3.2 innings
pitched.
Back in his MLB debut in 1962, he appeared in one game at the age of 19,
giving up six runs, four of them earned, in 3.1 innings, getting tagged
with the loss in the abbreviated start.
But he’d find his place as an outfielder, eventually going on to hit 83
homers in his nine-year career playing for the Dodgers, Twins, Milwaukee
Brewers, Boston Red Sox and finally Chicago Cubs between 1962 and 1977.
A “hit-or-miss” type hitter, he led the American League in strikeouts
(as a batter) three straight seasons between 1972 and 1974, his only
three full seasons as a Big Leaguer.
He finished his career with a batting average of .251, with 559 hits over 2224 at-bats, with 250 runs scored and 328 RBI’s.